“If we could create an option in which Iran eliminated every single nut and bolt of their nuclear program and forswore the possibility of ever having a nuclear program, and for that matter got rid of all its military capabilities, I would take it,” Obama said in a conversation with the center’s principal supporter, Los Angeles businessman Haim Saban.

“But I want to make sure everybody understands it – that particular option is not available. So as a consequence, what we have to do is make a decision as to, given the options available, what is the best way for us to [ensure] Iran does not get a nuclear weapon?”

Spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi was quoted by state news agency IRNA as saying that initial testing on a new generation of more sophisticated centrifuges had been completed, underlining Iran’s determination to keep refining uranium in what it says is work to make fuel for a planned network of nuclear power plants.

Although the development does not appear to contravene the interim agreement struck between world powers and Iran last month, it may concern the West nonetheless, as the material can also provide the fissile core of a nuclear bomb if enriched to a high degree.

“If the Iranians renege, if they cheat, then the deal is off. We not only resume the freeze, we add sanctions. But I don’t think we should take steps that aren’t necessary right now,” Schiff said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

While Schiff agrees with the White House that Congress should hold off on more powerful sanctions, Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas) says they’d serve as leverage.

“Iranians would know we’re serious about sanctions, and it would give us leverage for the administration in their talks,” McCaul said on “State of the Union.”

***

Some advocates of war seem gripped by Thirties Envy, a longing for the clarity of the 1930s, when appeasement failed to slake the dictators’ thirst for territorial expansion. But the incantation “Appeasement!” is not an argument. And the word “appeasement” does not usefully describe a sober decision that war is an imprudent and even ultimately ineffective response to the failure of diplomatic and economic pressures to alter a regime’s choices about policies within its borders.

Israel’s superb air force is too small, when striking over great distances at hidden and hardened targets, to do more than set back Iran’s program a few years, at most. And an attack might cause Iran to expel the international inspectors or accelerate the crumbling of the sanctions, thereby speeding the reconstitution of the weapons program…

Momentum for sanctions is waning. It’s true that the economic relief the Iranians will receive in this deal is modest, but it is also true that many nations, many companies and the Iranians themselves are seeing this agreement as the beginning of the end of the sanctions regime. Iran is already making a push to recapture its dominant role in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. U.S. officials believe they can hold the line on sanctions, but it is reasonable to assume that they will come under increasing pressure from countries such as South Korea, Japan, India and China, which could very easily convince themselves that Iran is preparing to act in a more responsible manner (after all, it replaced its snarling, Holocaust-denying president with a smiling, savvy president) and should be reopened for business…

The biggest concession to the Iranians might have already been made. Although it is the West’s position that it has not granted Iran the so-called right to enrich, the text of the interim agreement states that the permanent deal will “involve a mutually defined enrichment program with mutually agreed parameters.” Essentially, Barack Obama’s administration has already conceded, before the main round of negotiations, that Iran is going to end up with the right to enrich. Realists would argue that Iran will end up with that “right” no matter what, but it seems premature to cede the point now…

One of Israel’s most prominent experts on the Iranian nuclear program, a former military intelligence chief named Amos Yadlin, said this week that “Iran is on the verge of producing a bomb. It’s sad, but it’s a fact.” Yadlin suggested that no one, and no agreement, can stop Iran from reaching the nuclear threshold. I fear he is right.

In their heyday, neoconservatives boasted that while anyone could go to Baghdad, real men hankered to go to Tehran. But as a venue for displaying American power, Baghdad proved a bust. In Tehran lies the possibility of finding a way out of perpetual war. Although by no means guaranteed, the basis for a deal exists: We accept the Islamic republic, they accept the regional status quo. They get survival, we get a chance to repair self-inflicted wounds. It’s the same bargain that Nixon offered Mao: Keep your revolution at home, and we’ll make our peace with it. Negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program provide the medium for achieving this larger end…

Although Americans have not yet fully digested the news, the United States no longer must defer to the Saudis. North American reserves of oil and natural gas are vastly greater than they appeared to be just a few years ago. As the prospect of something approximating energy independence beckons, the terms of the U.S.-Saudi alliance — they pump, we protect — are ripe for revision. Not so long ago, it seemed really, really important to keep the Saudi royal family happy. Far less so today.

Much the same applies to Israel. Easily the strongest power in its neighborhood and the only one possessing a nuclear arsenal, the Jewish state privileges its own security over all other considerations. It has every right to do so. What doesn’t follow is that Washington should underwrite or turn a blind eye to Israeli actions that run counter to U.S. interests, as is surely the case with continued colonization of the occupied territories. Just as Israel disregards U.S. objections to its expansion of settlements in the West Bank, the United States should refuse to allow Israeli objections to determine its policy toward Iran.

The exit from America’s misadventures in the region is through the door marked “Tehran.” Calling off the War for the Greater Middle East won’t mean that the political, social and economic problems roiling that part of the world will suddenly go away. They just won’t be problems that Uncle Sam is expected to solve. In this way, a presidency that began with optimism and hope but has proved such a letdown may yet achieve something notable.

Kerry said Washington would confer closely with its Israeli ally about crafting a permanent Iran agreement after the six-month confidence-building period laid out by the Geneva deal under which Iran will curb sensitive aspects of its nuclear program in exchange for limited relief from sanctions.

Blowback

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“If we could create an option in which Iran eliminated every single nut and bolt of their nuclear program and forswore the possibility of ever having a nuclear program, and for that matter got rid of all its military capabilities, I would take it,”

Could turn Iran into a parking lot. That would certainly resolve the issue.

“I can’t emphasize enough that Israel’s security in this negotiation is at the top of our agenda and the United States will do everything in its power to make certain that Iran’s nuclear program, the program’s weaponisation possibilities, is terminated,” Kerry said.

Well, Obama has his beliefs and actions and it is a perfectly definite set, there is no vagueness about it. He commands that the Jew bow to the Muslim at every turn they do him hurt or threaten him and his children with death. Word it as softly as you please, the spirit of Obama is the spirit of the evil shadowed specter of the Beast of Austria insidiously billowing in and building and building to ever more horrific heights. The moment there is a question about a boundary line or a building or some Muslim somewhere complaining about any matter, see Obama rise, and see him spit at the Jew from the corner of his twisted mouth. The spirit of Obama being in its nature narcissistic and selfish — it is in the man’s line, it comes natural to him — he can fully live up to all of the teachings of Jeremiah Wright and even of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; for the spirit of Judaism is entirely impossible to him.

“I can’t emphasize enough that Israel’s security in this negotiation is at the top of our agenda and the United States will do everything in its power to make certain that Iran’s nuclear program, the program’s weaponisation possibilities, is terminated,” Kerry said.

If you like your country, you can keep your country. Period. If you like your children alive, you can keep them alive. No matter what. Has anyone seen my magic hat?

“I can’t emphasize enough that Israel’s security in this negotiation is at the top of our agenda and the United States will do everything in its power to make certain that Iran’s nuclear program, the program’s weaponisation possibilities, is terminated,” Kerry said.

“But I want to make sure everybody understands it – that particular option is not available. So as a consequence, what we have to do is make a decision as to, given the options available, what is the best way for us to [ensure] Iran does not get a nuclear weapon?”

Isn’t this exactly what happened with Kerry and his stupid comments on Syria?

Will’s column is interesting. Iran has had the capability of producting enough HEU to do a bomb for a while, but have not turned up the heat to do it. (Sanctions have hurt, suxnet, etc.). But it is not like they don’t know what they’re doing.

ok, so how long can that last? really? Will’s column on containment is basically correct. Iran is more or less being contained now…but always with a threat to a rapid breakout. Then they need to construct a weaponizable system…which they are doing in parallel

Reagan was correct…we need missile defense. Barry is almost always wrong. We should be building nuclear weapons, not destroying them. Build missile defense not subverting it.

Barry wants to contain the US. Containing Iran is a better deal (for us at least).

President Obama Valerie Jarret, the Iranian, signaled Saturday that he was prepared to allow Iran to enrich uranium on its soil, saying that an eventual nuclear deal could be structured to ensure that Tehran’s program would be only for peaceful purposes…

Nothing gives me more confidence and certainty in our country’s ultimate destruction than to have the likes of Obama and Kerry negotiating with the world’s largest purveyor of terrorism whose own lying and deception makes serial prevaricators of the likes of those two look like common con-artists.

Any deal negotiated with Iran by this American-hating duo will end up turning some of our own cities into glass, it’s just a matter of time.

If there were ever a time our military leaders should wake up and execute their oath to protect and defend the Constitution in whatever means possible, now is that time. They are the last line of hope anymore.

President Obama signaled Saturday that he was prepared to allow Iran to enrich uranium on its soil, saying that an eventual nuclear deal could be structured to ensure that Tehran’s program would be only for peaceful purposes…

“I can’t emphasize enough that Israel’s security in this negotiation is at the top of our agenda and the United States will do everything in its power to make certain that Iran’s nuclear program, the program’s weaponisation possibilities, is terminated,” Kerry said.

“We will permit Germany to build the concentration camps and the extermination centers, and manufacture Zyklon-b for peaceful purposes”

President Obama signaled Saturday that he was prepared to allow Iran to enrich uranium on its soil, saying that an eventual nuclear deal could be structured to ensure that Tehran’s program would be only for peaceful purposes…

“I can’t emphasize enough that Israel’s security in this negotiation is at the top of our agenda and the United States will do everything in its power to make certain that Iran’s nuclear program, the program’s weaponisation possibilities, is terminated,” Kerry said.

Translated from Onese (aka “whatever I say I mean the exact opposite”) and DiploSpeak (like NewSpeak with a Hahvahd accent), it comes out in terms Henry II of England would recognize;

WILL NO ONE RID ME OF THESE TURBULENT JEWS?

The only thing more bizarre than progressives’ belief that erasing Israel from the map will solve all their problems with the Islamic world, is their belief that the Iranian mullahs are “rational actors”.

If you picture the Reverend Jim Jones with WMDs, you’d be much closer to the reality.

It’s been proven that everything that comes out of Obowma’s mouth and his Administration is a lie…

… Why are people even listening anymore?

Seven Percent Solution on December 8, 2013 at 8:24 PM

See Obama’s star fall down in the sky
Every dream he spun was a lie
Here’s the one bitter lesson of Obama’s history
His soul should no longer remain a mystery
His many faces change
What you thought you knew grows ever more strange
And he has so many faces
His real self erases
With all those lies
Dancing in his empty eyes!

“I can’t emphasize enough that Israel’s security in this negotiation is at the top of our agenda and the United States will do everything in its power to make certain that Iran’s nuclear program, the program’s weaponization possibilities, is terminated,” Kerry said.

I dunno, if I’m sitting over in Tel Aviv right now, that makes me feel so warm and fuzzy to hear.

Actually, if I were in Tel Aviv right now, I’d be begging Netanyahu and anyone else who would listen to crank up their version of the Enola Gay and tell Obama and Kerry to fvck off and die.

I was reading the idiocy over on the gun control post, but I just couldn’t respond… The stupidity is exhausting, and I can’t bring myself to engage. Which is a shame, because I am uniquely qualified to speak on the matter… I am not only a gun owner and gun carrier, but I have also been a victim of gun crime/gun violence. Anybody interested in reading about the time I got shot?

I think the only real way to stop Iran from getting the bomb Is to cut off the head of the snake. Kill the leadership of the regime then actively encourage a revolt and provide assistance to the Iranian people to take back their country. That won’t ever happen with this president in power now.

The exit from America’s misadventures in the region is through the door marked “Tehran.” Calling off the War for the Greater Middle East won’t mean that the political, social and economic problems roiling that part of the world will suddenly go away. They just won’t be problems that Uncle Sam is expected to solve. In this way, a presidency that began with optimism and hope but has proved such a letdown may yet achieve something notable.

The above is the definition of treason and insanity… I do not want to click on the link to read the article because it is from the Washington Post… Who is the insane traitor who wrote this article?

Does 0bama’s narcissism such that he thinks HE is the 12th Imam…. Or is he merely trying to ‘bring him up out of the well’ and into the world?

LegendHasIt on December 8, 2013 at 9:03 PM

It is highly possible that Obama muslim roots from his father side are that of Shia islam rather than Sunni islam and hence his love fest with the terrorist regime in Iran which is the largest Shia muslim nation in the world…

I’m trying to convince my uncle to write a book about his father,my grandfather. My uncle is grade A journolister. But as WWII vets slip away, there’s a story to be told. It would be a damned shame… for it to slide into the ether. A hundred small tales need to become one.

He grew up in an orphanage during the depression. Ended up in New Guinea.

…you know!…a lot of people here are going to be pi$sed…you let the cowboy boots get bloody!…did they clean up ok?

KOOLAID2 on December 8, 2013 at 10:35 PM

No, they are a light gray lizardskin, and permanently bloodstained. I also wrecked a car wearing those boots, and flipped an ATV doing about 35 MPH. I was riding alone, no helmet, and have no idea how long I was unconscious on the side of that mountain. I still have them, even though they are totally beat. I have determined that they are my lucky shoes, and nothing terminal can happen to me when I am wearing those boots.

He doesn’t sound all that different from GWB to me. GWB didn’t want Iran to have nukes, Obama does. But aside from that, their reasoning is the same: the Iranian “people” want something different than the leaders. The reality is that all Muzzies everywhere are scum.